Sermon Illustrations

Jerry Falwell died this past week. I was driving home and heard Michael Savage on the radio. He was playing an interview he had done with Jerry Falwell some time in the past. Savage was going through some questions, and Falwell was basically stating what he believed to be true about Christianity. He quoted Scripture and talked about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but only through Jesus. Savage pressed the question – “You mean, good Jewish people, good Muslim people, good Buddhists – they’re less of a person because they don’t accept Jesus?” Falwell simply repeated what he’d been saying, quoted Jesus when He said, “I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but through Me.” Well, Michael Savage remained polite, but he concluded that that view was just too narrow and intolerant – that he doesn’t believe in a God Who would exclude from heaven people who do lots of good things. He just couldn’t accept that. The problem with Mr. Savage’s view is that he’s wrong! He’s trying to set the terms by which we’ll approach with God Almighty! In Savage’s world, God’s going to have to fit into our mold for Him.

But God doesn’t approach us and say, “I want so much for you to love Me, I’ll become anything you want. I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.” God calls for us to change. That means we have to look at what He says and step in line with it. He’s not the One changing.